I Have Made The Perfect Older Khalid In Baldurs Gate 3 And NO ONE CAN TELL ME OTHERWISE

Speed running act 1 so I can see her sooner

Githyankidanky coming in with the slam dunk as always

Also please give me both timelines I need them 🤲

Jaheira's Timeline is Fucked??

I feel like this is known. but still, what the fuck.

The original BG website (taken down) apparently listed Jaheira as being born/less than a year old during the civil war in Tethyr, also known as the Ten Black Days of Eleint. This event happened in 1347.

But if that's true, that makes Jaheira 21 as of the first game. In the first meeting with her, she states that her & Khalid were supposed to be Gorion's Ward's foster parents should anything happen to Gorion. Gorion's Ward is said to be 20 (or "of your twenty years of life") as of the beginning of the game which takes place over the course of about 5 months.

So Jaheira was supposed to be your guardian when she was maybe a year older than you at best.

Worse still, there's supposedly a dialogue between Jaheira and Glint (a companion) in Siege of Dragonspear that confirms that Jaheira had been married to Khalid for 8 years, and dated him for more than 10 years total. SoD takes place in 1368 - 1369 and is 6 months long at most.

That means she started dating Khalid at age 11 - 12, married him at 13 - 14.

Add on that Khalid's BG website bio implies that Khalid and Jaheira met through Gorion (presumably the "sorceror" Khalid asks his father to pay to teach him) & the Harpers, so she was a Harper prior to meeting him, when she was like 10.

like obviously someone fucked up on the numbers, the setting/story isn't quite dark enough to be implying an underaged/arranged marriage for one of the happier couples in the game. but still..

If Jaheira had been born in 1347 she would have been 145 years old as of BG3. Half-elves live around 120 - 180 years.

To make any of it fit, that statement has to be ignored, and at least 5 years need to be tacked onto her age.

So at the earliest:

She's born in 1342.

The civil war happens when she's 5 and she's rescued by one of her servants.

She joins/is involved/travelling with the Harpers around 13 - 15 ish.

She meets Khalid at 16 - 17, marries him at 18 - 19.

Which leaves space for Gorion to have asked her to be next-of-kin to a 14 yro when she was 20.

That way she's 26 when Gorion's Ward (20) rocks up.

As of BG3, she's 150.

But I think that's the absolute youngest she could have been, to correct the dates while still remaining true to the tone of BG & Jaheira/Khalid's relationship.

A more realistic approach would probably be to tack on 10 years:

She's born in 1337.

The civil war happens when she's 10 and she's rescued by one of her servants.

She joins/is involved/travelling with the Harpers around 15 - 19ish.

She meets Khalid at 21 - 22, marries him at 23 - 24.

Which leaves space for Gorion to have asked her to be next-of-kin to a 9 yro when she was 20.

That way she's 31 when Gorion's Ward (20) rocks up.

As of BG3 she's 155.

I did entertain the possibility that she was also present with Gorion when rescuing the Bhaalspawn & adopting his Ward,

(Idk if she knows that your a Bhaalspawn prior to you finding out bc I haven't got that far in the game & haven't seen anything to suggest she does? BG veterans ur input is very much welcome here!)

but that would need her to be around at least 20 in 1348 & a competent Harper, which conflicts with her being child in need of a servants help in 1347 when the civil war begins. Her being 40ish when Gorion is killed isn't so much of an issue since she's a Half-elf and Shadowheart, who is also considered a young adult, is in her 40s in BG3. It's just the conflict with her being a child in 1347 that makes me think she wasn't involved then.

sketchbook jaheira and khalid

YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE

more scribbling through the pain of an artblock. imoen and khalid doodles

I have finished cooking

Here she is! Khalid’s mom + a baby Khalid

I think she turned out really pretty and I like her even if this was a struggle lol

I’m not very good at designing outfits so even though I had the parameters of wanting to be light weight and have light colors to avoid overheating as well as a head piece to protect her face and scalp from the sun I struggled to make brain work. I wanted her to look older than she ultimately ended up looking but she is an elf I suppose… but I still want her to look older

Something I think about is Khalid’s mother

Because in the first game in Khalid’s background she is not mentioned at all, and in siege of dragonspear she is mentioned as ‘not thinking much of him’ but to a lesser extent than his father did who we all agree was a POS

1. What was she like?

like her life probably sucked a lot.

She was an elven concubine in a country that is pretty much devoid of any other elves, and so she was seen as exotic, which is probably why Khalid‘s father had her as a concubine in the first place.

She would always be below his actual wife and I won’t get into all of the horrible things that could’ve happened to her prior or during this time

And then on top of everything, she has a illegitimate kid with the dude!

I doubt Khalid’s father or his wife (mother of Khalid’s half brothers) was particularly interested in raising him, so it was probably all on her.

So now on top of her life already probably sucking, she has this kid in a world that is guaranteed to be hostile towards him because he is considered lower by default.

There’s no way she could protect him from that even if she did try.

Maybe there was a combination of resentment of having another thing on her plate to take care of but also guilt about having this kid that she feels is guaranteed to have a miserable life

2. Was their relationship purely indifference and neglect or was there some love?

Is it possible that she walled herself off from him so that when he was inevitably hurt it didn’t hurt her as much? Like self protection so she only had to feel her own hurt

Were there good moments? Where she would protect him or comfort him in ways she felt she could?

Maybe she held some hope that because his father was of the merchant class Khalid would get further than she could only to have those hopes crushed within her lifetime

3. How does Khalid feel about her?

Maybe he is a bit overly forgiving of her actions because of he knows her circumstances (Which probably annoys Jaheira lol)

Maybe there’s some resentment for not being the mother he needed but he feels guilty about having those feelings

Maybe she just fades into the background of his childhood

There’s so many possibilities because we know nothing about her so we get to fill in the blanks!

Jaheira having a small case of baby fever is now added into my brain <3

Hazel is my favorite (no I don’t have a Druid bias why would you think that?)

iiiiii am working on That Long And Terrifying Alternate Timelines Fic as we all know and in the process of writing last night i had to come up with kids for jaheira/khalid, and only one of them actually shows up in the fic, which is so fucked up that i had to create a quick and fun visual aid for all of them. my cursive is questionable in places so here they are in order of age :)

rion, harper, a little blunt but actually very sweet despite appearances (she's the one who shows up in the fic !!!)

hazel, druid, inherited a lesser version of khalid's stutter, very very very much like her dad in first-glance temperament but with a lot of her mom's marshmallow core. so basically the softest girl ever

elowen, bard, i feel like every family needs That Inexplicable Artsy One, really looks up to a family friend who never stopped singing ...

cyprus, adventurer, pretty much just a carbon copy of jaheira, genuinely professionally annoying, khalid is always calling him "the sweetest and most perfect boy" because he is Pretty Much Just A Carbon Copy Of Jaheira

liora, on god i truly do not believe jaheira/khalid would have children without having at least one of them be some sort of professional criminal

ennir, not TECHNICALLY a wizard because he's still working through a lot of issues with his stutter (which is as intense as khalid's) but he's got a real passion for the weave & a very compassionate dad who really wants to support him in an attempt to figure it out, SOOOO

and as a postscript: a snip from the fic itself to contextualize why there are so many.

🫡

Jaheira: I’d like you to take the time to learn the Baldur’s Gate mantra. Jaheira is always right. I will listen to Jaheira. I will not ignore Jaheira’s recommendations. Jaheira is a God. And if this ever happens again, Jaheira will personally rip your lungs out.

Some expression practice with my OC Evune

I think I might make rp blog for her (and my Durge, but mostly her because she’s the favorite lol) we’ll see if I get around to that ;-; it also would be nice to have a separate place to put her too for organizational purposes

bg1 doodles from my lunch break, the girls and Khalid

Keep reading